Amazon Decides Against Denver for Second Headquarters

Amazon recently expanded into a three-story, 37,000-square-foot office building in downtown Boulder at 1900 15th St. (Photo: JLL)

Amazon has selected New York City and the Washington D.C. over Denver, for its second headquarters. The point man from Denver’s bid effort said it was not what those cities offered financially that Amazon liked, but the absolute size of the potential workforce that will be needed to staff more than 25,000 full-time jobs in each location.

In a news release, company officials cited economic incentives that the two winning locations offered – $1.53 billion for New York and $573 million from Virginia.

Virginia agreed to invest another $195 million in transportation infrastructure in the neighborhood around Amazon’s chosen location three miles from Washington D.C., and Amazon noted the abundance of transit options around the New York Site.

Metro Denver officials did not offer a specific incentive amount but instead laid out the potential tax breaks Amazon could take advantage of.

Denver will however, remain at the top of the list when the company looks to locate more specialized areas of business, similar to the distribution centers in Aurora and Thornton and web-services staff in downtown Denver.